Tanya Kalmanovitch

Canadian violist and violinist Tanya Kalmanovitch operates at the intersection of contemporary jazz, classical music and free improvisation. Since moving to New York in 2004, she has fast made a name for herself in the city's jazz and improvised music scene. In 2004 she was named "Best New Talent"by All About Jazz New York, and Time Out New York described her as "the Juilliard-trained violist who's been tearing up the scene." Her debut recording with her quartet, Hut Five, was hailed by The Montreal Gazette as "an exceptional recording, one of the more engaging recordings heard in some time." Her recording, Heart Mountain, with pianist Myra Melford, was released in 2007.

Kalmanovitch has performed with some of contemporary jazz's greatest exponents, including Mark Turner, Mark Helias, Benoît Delbecq, David Liebman, Tom Rainey, Ronan Guilfoyle, Chris Speed, Lindsey Horner, Dan Weiss and Andy Laster, as well as leading international string improvisers such as Ernst Reijseger, Dominique Pifarély, Vincent Courtois, Rob Thomas, Mat Maneri, and the Turtle Island String Quartet. Kalmanovitch performs extensively in North America and Europe, and has travelled frequently to India where she studied Karnatak music with violinist Lalgudi G. J. R. Krishnan and veena player Karaikudi S. Subramanian. She also maintains an active interest in cross-cultural improvisation, collaborating with sarangi player Aruna Narayan, Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, sitarist Shujaat Husain Khan, and the Irish traditional accordionist Peter Browne.

Kalmanovitch teaches regularly at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK and the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, NL, and frequently presents workshops on improvisation for jazz and classical musicians in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United States, and Canada.

B.Mus. The Juilliard School; B.A.Aft., University of Calgary (Psychology); M.Sc., University of Calgary (History and Theory of Psychology); Ph.D. candidate, University of Alberta (Ethnomusicology). Independent studies with Charlie Banacos and Jim McNeely. Recordings on Perspicacity and IMC.